Ever After (Nantucket Brides 3)

“I’m here,” she answered back. “I’ll be there as soon as I find it.” When a bit of lightning highlighted the old box as though a spotlight had been turned on it, she rolled her eyes. “Why am I not surprised? And I bet that tea is still piping hot.”

When she heard what sounded like the laughter of two young women, she hurried out of the pantry.

Chapter Fourteen

“Are you okay?” Jamie called.

“Yes,” she answered and picked up the box. She sniffed a bit and put on a smile. She wasn’t going to let Jamie see how much he’d upset her.

As she rounded the corner, Jamie was coming toward her on his crutches. But before he could say anything, there was a knock on the door. “Fun’s over,” he mumbled. When he nodded at the box, she shoved it way back on a shelf of the dresser, and Jamie opened the door.

It was Ian. “I have been given instructions to equip this room with a properly set table for dinner tonight. Dr. Huntley and his wife had dishes and silver sent over from Kingsley House. You two need to get dressed.” Ian stepped inside. “It’s a sauna in here! Did you have a fire going?”

“Yeah,” Jamie said. “With the storm, it was cold in here.”

“Storm?” Ian said. “We’ve been on the beach today and it was so sunny we nearly fried. We went through a dozen tubes of sunscreen.”

“Maybe it was a localized storm,” Jamie said.

Ian unhooked the double doors and threw them both open. Outside the grass was dry; there wasn’t a drop of moisture on the paving stones.

Hallie was just behind Jamie and staring in disbelief. “Interesting.”

“Whatever you two have been drinking, you should share it,” Ian said. He looked out at the garden. Raine and Adam were coming toward them carrying big boxes, and behind them was an older woman.

“Is that Aunt Tildy?” Jamie asked.

“None other.”

Jamie turned to Hallie. “We have to get out of here as fast as we can run.”

“But I want to meet her,” Hallie said even as Jamie got behind her and began pushing.

“Unless you want to tell every secret you’ve ever had, especially about your stepsister and the passport, you’ll get out of here before Aunt Tildy arrives.”

Hallie took time to blink twice, then began running toward the stairs.

“Dinner in an hour,” Ian called after them. “And we set up the TV in the living room while you two were braving the big bad storm. Did the thunder keep you from hearing us?”

Hallie stopped at the top of the stairs and looked at Jamie. “We’re either both crazy or…”

“Or the ladies played some game on us,” Jamie answered.

“I don’t know about you, but I prefer crazy,” Hallie said.

“I agree. So what was in the box?”

“I didn’t have time to look. I need to get dressed. If your cousins are bringing over china, is this thing formal?”

“Put on the black dress you wore to dinner. But you should know that if Uncle Kit’s involved, he may show up in a tux. And Aunt Jilly might—”

“Why didn’t you warn me about this? I should have started getting ready two hours ago. Damn!” She ran to her bedroom to get in the shower.

Minutes later, as she was frantically trying to get the curling iron to work on her hair, Jamie knocked on her bedroom door.

“Are you dressed?” he asked.

“Enough.” She had on her underwear and a bathrobe.